WSOPC Rincon Regional Championship Report

On Wednesday, the World Series of Poker Circuit Western Regional Championship final table was played out until an eventual winner was decided. After ten gruelling hours, it was Ali Eslami who was the last player left standing with all 2.94 million chips in play.

During the first level of the final table, one of the short stacks, Miller Dao, was the first to exit the tournament after he moved all in with A-6, but Dylan Wilkerson woke up with pocket jacks in the big blind and the favorite hand held up. Dao had won a $80 satellite to gain entry into the $10k buy-in tournament, collecting a $24,235 payday for his efforts this week.

With Wilkerson playing with around twenty big blinds he was forced to move all in when he woke up with A-K hoping to double up against Dana Kellstrom’s Q-Q. The 8d-4d-3s-9d-2d board failed to hit Wilkerson and he was out in eighth place.

Then Full Tilt Poker’s Dwyte Pilgrim’s run came to an end after shoving the rest of his stack on a board of Ac-Kd-2h-Th with Ah-3h. Chip leader Ali Eslami made the call with Ks-2s which was out in front with two pair. The river was a blank which saw Dwyte Pilgrim out in seventh place.

Kellstrom was eliminated in sixth place after being coolered in a hand. Eslami opened the pot and check-raised all in on a flop of 2d-4d-4c, and Kellstrom quickly called with A-5 chasing the wheel straight. When the 3c hit on the turn, he was already drawing dead to Eslami’s 5d-6d having the bigger straight. This cash moved Kellstrom to over $200,000 in tournament earnings in 2011.

Another one of the Full Tilt Poker pro’s Steve Brecher, picked up a few medium sized pots through winning a number of all-ins at the final table to work his way to a fourth-place finish.

After the dinner break, West drew to within striking distance of the chip lead after winning a coin flip against Blanchard who was out in third place with a six-figure cash.

The heads-up battle was between West and Eslami. The two players were playing with deep stacks. For about two hours, the two traded jabs until eventually the match ended in a cooler hand. With blinds at the 4,000/12,000/24,000 level, West made a standard open to 62,000, and Eslami three-bet to 138,000. After some careful consideration, West shoved all in for all of his remaining chips, and Eslami quickly called. West was holding A-Q, and he was in all kinds of trouble against Eslami’s aces which held up to claim the WSOP Circuit Rincon Regional Championship title.